My Favourite Japanese Restaurant in Hong Kong, The Yuu 一遊

My Favourite Japanese Restaurant in Hong Kong, The Yuu 一遊

• August 03, 2015

Good Japanese food is easy to find in Hong Kong, and I reckon there are as many Japanese restaurants as there are Cantonese and Hong Kong style restaurants. Being so close to Japan, the quality of seafood is amazingly fresh and inexpensive, and it would be a total waste not to hunt out a Japanese meal whilst in Hong Kong. 

My good friend M suggested The Yuu 一遊 for dinner in TST's romantic and tucked away Knutsford Terrace. It's one of her favourite restaurants and she was sure I'd love it. 

And my gosh did I love it! It is now firmly planted on my eating map for whenever I am in Hong Kong, and I can't wait to recommend this as my favourite Japanese restaurant in Hong Kong to everyone I know.

What made me fall in love in the instant that I walked into the restaurant after stepping out of the lift on the 4th floor, was the beautifully traditional Japanese decors. I literally felt transported to a cosy Japanese inn, right in Japan and not in Hong Kong. The menu design and menu items also played a huge part in creating an authentic Japanese atmosphere. 

The menu is pretty extensive with raw and cooked food, healthy and not so healthy. There's sushi and sashimi to choose from, as well as yakitori (grilled skewers of meat, fish, veg), small plates, rice bowls and noodles. 

First up is the pumpkin salad. Pumpkin mash flavoured with savoury and sweet notes, dressed with kewpie mayo and served with crispy lotus root chips and crispy won ton wrapper. I can't believe how GOOD this salad was!

For $220 (£18), this sushi platter was incredible. The rice was slightly warm as it should be, and the fish all at room temperature so the flavours of the fish were pronounced with a perfectly silky texture. Sea urchin isn't my favourite, but I loved The Yuu's one. It's so incredibly creamy and sweet. 

This is how sushi should taste and for $220, the price is just insane.

Our yakitori picks have arrived! From L to R: Chicken soft bone, cherry tomatoes wrapped in bacon, ox tongue, large prawn, chicken wings. My absolute favourite had to be the chicken wings and prawns. Seasoned with nothing but salt. Awesome skills.

Time for desserts. The dessert menu offer some great choices, a fusion of traditional flavours yet modern at the same time.

Tofu ice cream. I just love tofu ice cream and it's everywhere in Hong Kong. It might sound gross, but it just tastes like soya milk more than anything. So plain and simple, but so, so good. 

Almond jelly with osmanthus jelly. Interesting concept, but flavours were a little off. Osmanthus jelly had a sour after taste (it should be very gently sweetened) and the almond jelly made with almond milk tea powder was too grainy.

This meal for 2 cost us $750 (£62). Considering how fresh everything tasted and the amount we put away, it is amazing value for money. Here's a little piece of Japan right in the heart of Hong Kong. No need to catch a flight to Japan for some good sushi and yakitori. 


Address:
The Yuu 一遊   
4/F Prosperous Centre
1 Knutsford Terrace
Tsim Sha Tsui
Hong Kong 

Read about my other Hong Kong eats and recommendations.